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Marshall Faulk did not attempt to dress up what happened to Southern University against Houston.
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The first-year head coach watched his HBCU program fall 77-6 to No. 22 Houston on Saturday night, a mismatch so decisive that the teams agreed to play an eight-minute fourth quarter. Houston led 49-0 at halftime and finished with 591 total yards compared with 121 for Southern.
“That was awful,” Faulk said afterward. “That wasn’t really a game. That was a preseason crash dummy test for Houston to work on all their good plays. We didn’t show up.”
The blunt assessment comes as money games involving HBCU programs have become one of the biggest early-season conversations in college football.
Marshall Faulk saw little value on the field
Houston scored 28 points in the opening quarter and touchdowns on each of its first 11 possessions. The Cougars rushed for 388 yards and used 10 different ballcarriers. Southern finished with four first downs and minus-six rushing yards.
The Jaguars did not score until Wyatt McCauley connected with Wydell Clark Jr. on a 79-yard touchdown in the third quarter.
Houston coach Willie Fritz was able to use 99 players. Only five Cougars reportedly did not enter the game, while 36 players made their college debuts.
That context makes Faulk’s “crash dummy” description particularly striking. Southern wasn’t merely beaten by a better team. The HBCU effectively became a live-game developmental opportunity for Houston before the Cougars begin Big 12 play.
By the fourth quarter, both sides agreed there was little reason to play the full 15 minutes.
Houston result puts Faulk’s earlier comments in focus
Faulk entered the Houston matchup saying he wanted Southern to embrace the opportunity to compete with an FBS opponent.
“Once the whistle blows, nobody cares that it’s FCS and FBS,” Faulk said before the game. “It’s just kids out there playing football, having fun.”
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Saturday demonstrated just how wide that institutional gap can become.
It also provides an interesting contrast with Faulk’s comments before the season about where the real financial opportunity exists in modern college football.
“I’m not trying to keep up,” Faulk previously told The Rich Eisen Show. “I’m just trying to get my kids to the money game. The money game is in the FBS.”
Faulk was discussing NIL opportunities and the transfer portal, not guarantee games. Still, Saturday offered another illustration of the enormous financial and competitive separation between FBS programs and many HBCUs competing in the FCS.
HBCU money games face fresh scrutiny
Southern’s defeat came just two days after Miami beat FAMU 77-7 in another game that ended with a shortened fourth quarter. Indiana and Howard also agreed to a 10-minute final period during a 55-0 result this weekend.
Those results arrive as Edward Waters President A. Zachary Faison Jr. has publicly questioned whether money games remain worthwhile when the financial return does not adequately compensate programs for the competitive and physical disparity involved.
Southern now becomes part of that conversation.
The Jaguars were not expected to beat a nationally ranked Houston team. Faulk acknowledged before kickoff that Houston was well-coached and talented.
But a 77-6 result followed by an eight-minute fourth quarter created something beyond an ordinary loss.
Faulk called it a “preseason crash dummy test.”
As HBCU programs continue accepting checks to face significantly better-funded opponents, his description may also become one of the sharpest summaries yet of the uncomfortable question surrounding money games:
At what point does the financial benefit stop being worth what happens on the field?
The post Marshall Faulk calls Houston loss ‘crash dummy test’ as HBCU money game debate grows appeared first on HBCU Gameday.
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This story was originally published September 13, 2026 at 9:41 AM.